Pokemon: Path to the League
by Stalos
Summary: Hmmm..can't say too much w/o giving away the 'fic...sorry peoplez


PROLOGUE   
"Grandpa! Read us a story!" 2 voices called in unison. Voices that   
belong to 2   
children, both of them were siblings, twins. At the age of 9 years old,   
they were   
filled with eagerness to start a pokemon journey. The person to whom   
they   
were speaking was an old man, about the age of 80. He just sat there and   
smiled at his two grandchildren.   
"I'll tell you two a story you've never heard before, one that'll make   
you gasp in   
wonder, amazement, and may even frighten you. It happened when I was a   
young lad at the age of 13. And when it's finished, I will also tell you   
something   
else you won't know," He told the two young faces eager to listen. He   
had   
captured their attention…he was always good at that.   
He slowly, but steadily got up out of his chair, "Follow me boys," He   
called at   
them. He reached a cabinet filled with yellowing newspaper articles,   
books,   
pokeballs, and pictures. As the man opened the cabinet, he stopped and   
smiled   
at a picture of two teenagers, standing in front of a crowd of people,   
smiling,   
laughing and cheering. The man carefully put it down, as to not destroy   
it, and   
pulled out a black, leather bound book. In gold letters it had the words   
'Pathways to Adventure' written on it.   
He slowly sat down in a nearby chair, and opened the book, and read   
the   
yellowing pages within.   
POKEMON: PATH TO THE LEAGUE   
"What would you like? You can choose from a Charmander, Bulbasaur, and   
Squirtle," Said Jake, Prof. Oak's little brother. He seemed to look   
exactly like   
Prof. Oak with glasses and Brown hair.   
"I'll take a Squirtle!" I, Thomas Hawke(people call me T.C. though   
instead of   
Thomas) said excitedly.   
"Excellent choice," Jake said as he went to a table a couple yards   
away.   
"Here you go." he said as tossing me a red and white pokeball which   
was   
supposed to be containing a Squirtle, but it was missing something. I   
looked   
where the raindrop to show that it was a Squirtle and found that it   
didn't have   
one, in it's place stood a yellow lightning bolt.   
"Uh, Jake. This isn't a Squirtle, it looks more like an electric   
pokemon."   
"That's because it is, you see we ran out of squirtles, but with this   
raichu you   
can get one."   
"How?" I asked stunned because all the squirtles were gone.   
"Well, first go to Cinnabar Island and trade with the guy who wants   
one for an   
electrode. After you trade with him he'll say 'this raichu you traded me   
just   
evolved!', so then you trade back and he'll be a newly discovered   
species,   
marill. When you get Marill give him a fire stone and he'll evolve into   
a   
charmander. With your new charmander throw him into the river near   
Vermilion City, since Charmander can't swim, a squirtle from the   
Squirtle Squad   
will save him. When he comes throw this," he indicated towards a purple   
and   
white pokeball, which I recognized immediately as a Masterball. You see   
I live   
in Saffron City, and I'm a volunteer at the Poke-lab and Silph Co.   
"But I thought that the Masterball plan was cancelled, so how could   
you have   
one?" I said surprised, not because he had one, but that I actually   
asked him   
about that instead of the nonsense he was speaking.   
"Oh, some kid was given one; sold it to me." He answered as I looked   
up from   
my pokeball containing a raichu, and the first thing I noticed was that   
Jake no   
longer had a face, or even a head.   
Then out of nowhere a blaring siren sounded.   
"What's that?!" I asked because I couldn't even see the source of the   
sound   
anywhere.   
"That's the air raid siren, in about 5 minutes we will be bombed."   
Prof. Oak   
said, or should I say Jake, because Jake was nowhere to be seen and   
Prof. Oak   
was standing in his place.   
All of a sudden I was shaking and the lab walls were crumbling down   
all   
around us, and yet in the background there was a resounding 'Wake up!'.   
I   
winced in pain as the bricks fell down around me. Wait a minute, not   
bricks,   
Pokemon Bean Bags! All of sudden I sat straight up and my mom was   
standing   
there holding some Pokemon Bean Bags in a cocked hand.   
"I'm up!" I yelled as I looked from at my clock. 5:15, too early for   
somebody to   
get up and start their pokemon adventure.   
"You don't want to be late do you, and exactly how long did you stay   
up last   
night Thomas?"   
"No I guess I don't want to be, and about 11:30." I said, not wanting   
to have to   
tell her I spent all night at the PO board.   
"Well then, get moving." she said as I started getting ready to go.   
When I got   
done with all my chores, I went into my bathroom to make sure I looked   
presentable, and sighed. I had just noticed my height once again, 4' 10"   
, and   
yet I'm 13. "Oh well, I guess I'll have deal with it" I thought. I   
brushed my brown   
hair until it was perfectly parted to the left. Washed my face, and took   
a nice,   
long, hot, shower. When I was all done, it was 5:45. I still had some   
time left on   
my hands, so I sat down in front of the computer and got on my local   
internet provider. As soon   
as I   
signed on I noticed all these messages in my mailbox, when I checked   
them it   
was all my PO buddies wishing me good luck and saying that they'll miss   
me on   
the board. I got to the board and said thanks to all of them while I   
checked for   
unread messages, just the normal stuff, Wario dropping anvils on people,   
Vincent   
punting Wario to next Tuesday, Wacky and Firewolf arguing, and "No, I'm   
a   
dork, not you" argument between Roshi and Luke . I had only been on for   
about 10 minutes when my mom came in carrying 3 pokeballs.   
"Your dad and I want to give you these," she said as she handed them   
to me   
"They're not empty in case you were wondering, they contain an Oddish,   
Growlithe, and Sandshrew. The growlithe used to be mine, the other two   
were   
your dad's, we want you to take care of them and be their friend."   
"Okay, I promise I will." I said as I signed off and looked at my   
watch, 6:00.   
" Hey, Mom, I better get on over there."   
"Okay, go on." she said with a smile. I ran over and grabbed the   
pokeballs,   
gave my mom a goodbye kiss and headed for my bag. When I reached it, I   
noticed it was a little heavier than before.   
"We put some gifts in there, but don't open them until you hit   
Viridian City.   
And remember to call us tonight." My dad said walking in getting ready   
for   
work at Silph Co.   
"Okay, I promise but I really need to get over there and help set up."   
"Okay then, get going, I love you."   
"So do I Dad, Bye."   
So I left then with a smile on my face.   
When I got over there it was 6:05, I got out my keys and unlocked the   
door so   
I could get in and set up. It took about 10 minutes to get everything   
ready for   
the kids and me today. Then I noticed a table with a pillow on top of   
it. "I still   
have 15 minutes, that's enough for a short nap" I said aloud to no one.   
I laid   
down and fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow. The next thing I   
knew I   
was waking up to a nice morning sunlight, I took a look at my watch, and   
stopped breathing, it was 10:00.   
"Well I see your awake now." Jake said walking over to me.   
"Why didn't you wake me up when you got here? I'm late, I've even   
missed   
the bus to Viridian City, I'll have to wait 'till tomorrow now!" I   
yelled in an   
outrage.   
"Don't worry they weren't all taken, you can still make our decision,   
and about   
the bus all the kids were taking to start their journey in Viridian.   
Don't worry, I   
can have my fearow fly you there. You'll get there before any of the   
other kids   
do."   
"Okay," I said relieved.   
"Now first, your choice, Bulbasaur or Charmander?"   
"You mean no squirtles?" I asked disappointed, "I really wanted one of   
those;   
oh well, how about a Bulbasaur."   
"Don't worry I've still got a squirtle, here you go." He said tossing   
me a   
pokeball, this time I checked it and there was a raindrop on the ball. I   
let out a   
sigh of relief.   
"Now you can go to Viridian.," He said as tossing a pokeball, "Oh yeah   
T.C.,   
before you go take these." He gave me a pokedex, 2 pokeballs, 2   
greatballs, and   
1 ultraball. He then turned towards Fearow and told him to fly me to   
Viridian, I   
climbed on and he flew away. It was so fun to be flying. I looked down,   
and it   
we were flying over a beautiful country side. I eve saw the bus the   
other kids   
were taking. About fifteen minutes later I was checking into the   
Pokecenter for   
the night.   
I went up to my room and since pokemon were welcome, I let my pokemon   
out to stretch and roam around the room. I looked into my bag trying to   
find   
the gifts, I found 3 different boxes giftwrapped. I opened the first one   
and   
found two of every element stone, except for the moon stone I found 5 of   
those.   
The second one when I opened them contained all 5 HM's and 4 TM's. The   
TM's   
were Bubblebeam, Hyperbeam, Substitute, and Soft Boiled. "Boy, it's   
great to   
have old pokemon trainers as parents" I thought to myself. When I opened   
the   
last one it contained 3 different colored, leather bound, notebooks. On   
the   
front of the books it said in gold lettering 'Pathways to Adventure'. I   
opened the   
dark red one, and in the inside cover it said 'This journal belongs too:   
Laura   
Gibbs'. That was my mom's old name. I realized as I shut the book, that   
she was   
giving me the journal of her pokemon journey. Then I opened the navy   
blue   
one. This one said 'This journal belongs to: Jacob Hawke'   
"That's Dad's name, so this one," I said aloud indicating the black   
one, "is   
mine." I opened it and found the pages blank and my name written in ink   
in   
the belongs to space, but that wasn't all, right next to it were   
$19,000. I decided   
to call my parents, and thank them for the stuff.   
"Hello?" My mom asked as she picked up the receiver, then she looked   
into the   
video receiver and noticed it was me.   
"Oh, Thomas, How you doing?"   
"Fine, Thank you for the stuff."   
"Your welcome, and Dad says he loves you, but we were just getting out   
of the   
door when you called, so we need to go. I love you son."   
"Me too. Mom. Tell Dad the same, well bye."   
"Okay, See you later Thomas."   
My cheeks turned red as I hung up, and thought to myself I wish she   
would   
stop saying my full name. I kind of just sat around int he room all day,   
getting   
aquainted with me pokemon.   
The Next Day   
I woke up too early the next morning. So I turned on the TV to the   
news to see   
the weather. When I got there they were showing a car wreck on the   
highway,   
and it looked bad. Then I noticed the car, it looked familiar.   
"...It turns out the driver of the other car was drunk, we found a   
bunch of beer   
bottles in the car, he died this morning at the hospital from his   
injuries. The   
other people were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.   
Unfortunately   
there were no survivors the two bodies found in this car were identified   
as   
Laura and Jacob Hawke..." He continued, but I had stopped listening. The   
tears   
welled up in my eyes, and streamed down my cheeks. Growlithe had just   
woken up too. And when he saw me crying, he came over and nuzzled me   
trying to find out what was wrong. All I did was hug him. It made me   
feel   
better, but not much.   
END OF CHAPTER 1   
CHAPTER 2   
I stayed in bed for the day, I came out at around 5:00, and talked   
with Nurse   
Joy about keeping a room reserved while I was gone. After I had gotten   
through with keeping my room reserved, I went back and packed my stuff   
back   
in my bag, paid for bus fare and headed home in the sunset.   
I returned home and stayed away from everyone until the funeral was   
held.   
When the ceremony was over I wanted to go for a walk, I didn't know   
where; I   
just needed somewhere to go away from the faces of pity, for my loss,   
and   
greed, because I just inherited everything. As I was going someone put a   
hand   
over my shoulder.   
"They were good people, your parents, honest, hard working, and a   
record   
thinner than a piece of paper," While the man was talking I looked up   
and saw   
that it was a close, personal friend of my family's, and president of   
Silph Co. It   
was Mr. Silph.   
"Oh, hi, Mr. Silph," I said without much enthusiasm, any that came out   
was   
fake.   
"Please call me Ian, I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am of the   
loss of both   
your parents like that. They were very proud of you, you know that? My   
wife   
tells me that your mom would just go on about your accomplishments in   
school,   
sports, and other things. And your dad, he had his office covered in   
pictures of   
you, and pictures you drew as a young kid.   
"Listen, why don't you come over tonight and eat dinner with me, it'll   
just be   
you, me, and my wife. My daughter went to one of those weird girl   
slumber   
parties, you know I never understood what those thing were about." When   
he   
said that, I started chuckling, which was quickly subdued because of the   
memory of my parents dying.   
"Yeah, I guess I'll come over, thanks for the offer."   
"Your welcome, We'll be having diner at 7:00. Come over at 6:30   
though,   
we've got some things we want to give you." When that was done with, we   
set   
off for our own homes.   
I got to my house and started packing stuff that I wanted to keep, my   
most   
treasured items, pictures, other stuff, and all of the left over money.   
I decided   
that since I didn't need the rest of the stuff I would donate it   
somewhere to a   
charity or something.   
I reached Mr. Silph's (or as he insists 'Ian's') house a little early.   
It didn't really   
matter because it gave us time to talk, and take my mind off my parents'   
death.   
We talked for about half an hour. Then he got out the things he wanted   
to give   
me. They turned out to be a fossil some scientist in Pewter gave him, 10   
empty   
pokeballs, some bags for food, and the ever important junk food. There   
was   
also another present, it was a certificate saying that my house would   
not be   
torn down, or sold until I wanted to. I asked the Silph's if they would   
take care   
of it for me while I was gone, thankfully they accepted.   
When we had finished dessert, I thanked them for inviting me, and   
left. I went   
over to the lab hoping Jake was still there, so I could ask him for   
another ride, it   
turns out he was just about to leave but he said it would be fine for   
Fearow to   
fly me again.   
After I had checked back in with Nurse Joy, I went up and decided to   
check   
my pokemon. I let them all out, got out my pokedex and scanned. I   
decided to   
do Squirtle first.   
Squirtle, a tiny turtle pokemon. After birth it's back swells and   
hardens into a   
shell. Powerfully sprays foam from it's mouth. Squirtle's current level   
is 7 and   
knows tackle and tail whip. Next came Sandshrew.   
Sandshrew, a mouse pokemon. Sandshrews burrow deep underground in   
arid locations far from water. It only emerges to hunt for food.   
Sandshrew's   
current level is 11 and knows sand-attack and scratch. Then Oddish.   
Oddish, a weed like pokemon. During the day, it keeps its face buried   
in the   
ground. At night, it wanders around sowing its seeds. Oddish is   
currently level   
15 and knows Absorb and Poison Powder And last but not least,   
Growlithe.   
Growlithe, a puppy pokemon. Very protective of its territory. It will   
bark and   
bite to repel intruders from its space. Growlithe is currently at level   
20 and   
knows roar, bite, and ember.   
After scanning them I decided to go to bed.   
"Tomorrow's going to be a long day, you guys better get some sleep." I   
said to   
my pokemon. I went to bed and fell asleep.   
END OF CHAPTER 2   
CHAPTER 3   
I woke up with a start the next morning. Apparently Growlithe had   
woken up   
and got hungry. So of course he pulled that   
'cold-nose-in-the-middle-of-the-back' trick, that dogs do.   
I felt hungry too. So after I fed my pokemon and put them back in   
their balls, I   
went downstairs for some breakfast of my own. As I ate, a kid with   
messed up   
hair, a Pikachu hanging on his official pokemon league hat, and two kids   
following him entered the center, I thought the kid looked vaguely   
familiar.   
One of the kids following him was a girl who was holding a newly   
discovered   
togepi, the other was a squinty-eyed teenager who immediately started   
asking   
Nurse Joy out for some pizza or something like that. After Nurse Joy had   
gotten   
the teen (Who I found out later was the gym leader from Pewter named   
Brock,   
the girl was one of the gym leaders for Cerulean named Misty) to stop   
bugging   
her she started talking to the other kid.   
"Hi, Ash. I see you made it back here to challenge our gym leader for   
your   
eighth badge. How's Pikachu doing since I last saw it?"   
"Just fine Nurse Joy. I see you recognized me." Ash replied   
"Of course, how could I forget you?" She asked with a giggle. Then it   
snapped   
into place, that kids pikachu had inadvertently blown the Pokecenter up   
while   
trying to ward off Team Rocket from stealing all the pokemon. I decided   
that I   
wanted to battle him, even though he already had 7 badges.   
"Hey, kid!" I yelled to him "you want to battle?" of course he replied   
with an   
affirmative.   
We went into the battle arena and set the rules, 1 pokemon each, loser   
pays   
$1,000 to the winner. I thought I'd win for sure if he send out who I   
thought he   
would.   
"Go, Sandshrew!" I yelled as I threw the ball to the ground.   
"Okay then, go Pikachu!" Ash yelled, I had to contain my laughter at   
his   
incompetence, I also saw Misty pretending to hit her head up against a   
brick   
wall because of Ash's choice.   
"Pikachu, Thundershock!" He yelled, Pikachu sent the electricity   
towards   
Sandshrew which he just shook off, as a dog would do with rain.   
"Sandshrew, scratch!" Sandshrew obediently ran up to Pikachu and   
started   
scratching his stomach.   
"Pikachu! Agility!" he yelled as he was watching him get scratched.   
"Pika!" It said with a menacing tone   
"Sandshrew! Role up into a ball, and try to hit it!" I yelled, a   
little worried, that I   
might just lose. Sandshrew rolled into a ball and sped into, Pikachu   
with such   
force, that it was sent flying against the wall.   
"Cha! PIKA!" It yelled while charging up for a big electricity blast.   
"STOP!" A voice cried out, it was Nurse Joy's, "I don't want the   
center to be   
blown up again!" Ash had to call Pikachu back!   
"Cha, chu pi pi," It said sadly; Sandshrew just ran up and jumped into   
my arms.   
I had just won my first pokemon battle ever.   
"I don't get it? Why didn't I win? I always win! I've even got 7   
badges," he went   
on whining, crying and being a sore loser, when Misty came up.   
"I'll tell you the reason you lost. You've got know knowledge   
what-so-ever   
about pokemon weaknesses and strengths. He wouldn't have stood a chance   
if   
you had used Squirtle. Plus, you've only got 7 badges, because most   
gym's just   
give the badge to you the only ones you've fought and actually beat were   
Koga, Blaine, and Lt. Surge."   
After Misty had gotten through lecturing Ash about his incompetence,   
he   
handed the money over and stormed out of there. I wanted to stick around   
and watch him go after the eighth badge and see how badly he lost, but I   
really wanted to get moving and get my first badge. So I healed my   
pokemon,   
just in case, and headed off towards Viridian Forest.   
END OF CHAPTER 3   
CHAPTER4   
As I headed for Viridian Forest, I saw the pokemart. Since I didn't   
have any   
potions or antidotes I stepped in and bought 5 of each.   
I got toViridan Forest and didn't even spot any pokemon on Route 2.   
After   
exploring Viridian Forest for a few hours, I still hadn't even seen any   
pokemon   
yet. I sat down to lunch with my spirits lowering. Then decided to let   
my   
pokemon out so they could stretch and eat lunch too. As I was about to   
bite into   
a leftover sandwhich from the night before, someone came up and startled   
me.   
"Hey! You have pokemon, want to battle?" the kid said. I turned around   
and   
saw a boy about my heigth with blonde hair.   
"Sure,"I replied, we set out for a clearing not too far from the place   
my   
pokemon were at. I had taken Squirtle with me. Along the way I found a   
pokeball that felt like it had something in it, I just shrugged and set   
it down   
when we got to the clearing.   
"Hey, what's that thing?" the kid asked me.   
"Just a pokeball I found along the way," Then an idea struck me, "how   
about   
the winner gets it and 200 dollars."   
"Sounds good to me."   
We set the rules, which were one pokemon each and no revives or   
potions.   
"Bulbasaur, Go!" he yelled. I immediatly knew I was in trouble because   
water   
was weak to grass. But since I hadn't brought the others I had to choose   
Squirtle.   
"Squirtle go!" I yelled,then told him to tackle Bulbasaur which did   
about a   
quarter of damage.   
"Bulbasaur, tackle. Then use leech seed while hes stunned!" the   
trainer yelled.   
Bulbasaur obediently did as he was told. After tackling Squirtle he spit   
three   
seeds on to Squirtle out of the bulb on his back.   
"Shake it off, and use tailwhip on him!" I yelled out of desperation.   
Squirtle   
tried but was weak from being hit for the first time, so it failed. Then   
one of the   
seeds glowed and went back to Bulbasaur, fainting Squirtle.   
"Squirtle,return."I said glumly. I started giving him the money but he   
said it   
was okay, and he'd let me keep the money if I let him come with me on my   
journey. I reluctantly agreed because I thought it would cause fights   
about the   
wild pokemon we saw. We decided that if I saw one first I would get it,   
and vice   
versa. If we both see it it's whoever can get it caught first.   
"Well, I guess you need to know my name, I'm Alex."   
"Oh yeah, I'm T.C. Actually I'm Thomas but that's what people call   
me."   
"Okay, then T.C. I guess--" he was interrupted right there by   
Growlithe barking   
to let me know something was wrong. We started running back as fast as   
possible only to see a rattata trying to get my food. As soon as it saw   
us it ran   
into the woods.   
"Aw man! I wanted one of those."   
"Don't worry, your not missing out on anything. I've got one and   
they're not   
that good."   
At that moment we heard some squeals and chirps. We started looking   
around trying to find the source of the noise. My eyes fell upon some   
rustling   
bushes and out popped a weedle and a spearow. It looked like the spearow   
was   
trying to get some lunch too. just from that weedle. I couldn't let him   
suffer like   
that because he already looked pretty beat up already. And the Spearow   
would   
have him in a matter of minutes.   
"Pokeball, go!" I yelled. Weedle saw the ball coming and hesitated   
because it   
didn't want to be captured, or even dinner. The hesitation was all I   
needed   
because the ball hit weedle without him trying to dodge. And without a   
shake   
the center immediately had turned white, I guess he thought it would be   
safer   
in there.   
The spearow, now angry from losing its pray, shrieked and started   
coming   
after us. I called my pokemon back as soon as he headed towards us,   
because   
one of my training books mentioned that wild pokemon might get jealous   
of   
trained ones.   
"Duck!" I yelled as he was swooping for an attack run.   
"No not duck, spearow," Alex yelled back. I had to admire him for   
keeping his   
sense of humor in this situation. After several minutes and attack runs   
I decided   
that it needed to stop.   
"Squirtle, go!" I yelled, then realized my mistake.   
"Here, this might help just a little!" Alex yelled while throwing a   
Max. Revive at   
Squirtle. He jumped with a start and saw the spearow about to dive bomb   
him.   
"Squirtle, use tail whip when he gets clost to the ground!"   
"Squitle, Squirt." he responded. and obediently did as I said. Spearow   
went   
spiraling towards a tree now. When he hit it he fell down out cold. I   
then threw   
another pokeball.   
Shake-Shake-Shake-Ding!   
"Yes, I caught Spearow!" I exclaimed with delight.   
"You did pretty good back there T.C."   
"Yeah, I guess I did. But without that Max. Revive of yours it   
wouldn't have   
happened."   
I then started to call Squirtle back when I saw him just looking up   
into space. I   
asked my pokedex what was going on.   
Squirtle has just grown to level 8 and is learning the water type   
move   
bubble my pokedex said with a monotonous tone. When he was done   
learning it he tested the move. All these water bubbles shot out of his   
mouth   
going pretty fast. They looked pretty cool so I decided to try to touch   
one. When   
I did the force of the pop blew back against a tree about an arms length   
away.   
"Woah, those are pretty powerful bubbles." Alex commented.   
After eating our lunch, we packed back up and set out for some more   
exploring of Viridian Forest. With no luck at all for the rest of the   
day we   
camped out at night and talked for awhile before we decided to go to   
sleep.   
We had just woken up and eaten breakfast, when we decided to get out   
of   
the forest and get our first badge in pewter. On our way over to Pewter   
we ran   
into a caterpie, since I already had a weedle I let Alex go for him. He   
threw the   
pokeball he got from our battle and out popped a.....   
CHAPTER 5   
Charmander!   
"Char, Char!" The little fire lizard said with delight.   
"Wow! A Charmander! I always wanted one, but I had to pick bulbasaur   
and   
because he was last, and I was last..." Alex kept rambling on about   
Charmander   
when I realized why he had gotten Charmander out in the first place.   
"Alex! The caterpie! It's getting away!" I yelled   
"Huh? What caterpie? Oh, that one! Charmander, scratch attack!" He   
yelled   
Charmander got down on all fours and ran up to the green bug as fast as   
possible. He then threw his claws into it's skin.   
"Eroo!" It yelled in pain, and started wiggling all over the ground..   
It was the   
perfect time to throw the ball, so Alex did.   
Shake-Ding!   
"Woah, didn't put up much of a fight," I said. to Alex, or so I   
thought. He hadn't   
heard me, he was down on the ground playing with his Charmander. So I   
picked up the his pokeball.   
"Charmander, return!" I said, just as a red beam of light shot out of   
the ball   
"Hey! What you do that for? I was playing with him!" Alex said with a   
hint of   
anger.   
"So we could get moving. I want my first badge and my Spearow and   
Weedle   
to heal. You should with Caterpie too. he looked like he got hurt pretty   
bad." So   
we walked into Pewter City, and dropped off Weedle, Spearow, and   
Caterpie at   
the center.   
"So, you know anything about this new Gym leader?"Alex asked. He had   
run   
into Ash also, but lost.   
"Nothing much, except he trains rock pokemon too."   
"So my Bulbasaur and your Squirtle should do fine then," When we got   
to the   
gym, it looked like it was closed. The lights were out and it was pitch   
black.   
"Ouch!" Alex yelled as I stepped on his toes "I wonder if anybody's   
here?"   
"Halt! Who goes there and what is your purpose!" A menacing voice said   
over   
a speaker system.   
"Thomas Hawke, and my friend Alex! We have come here to challenge you"   
I   
yelled back, trying to sound brave and hide my nervousness. Then all of   
a   
sudden the lights came on. They were so bright that for the first 30   
seconds I   
had gone temporarilly blind. When my vision came back I saw a man in his   
mid-forties standing right in front of me, holding two pokeballs.   
"I only have two with pokemon with me. So that means one of you at a   
time.   
How about you go first Thomas, and my name is Flint by the way," The man   
said   
in a softer tone. It didn't sound at all like the voice over the   
speaker.   
"I know what your thinking," Flint said with a laugh, "Your wondering   
about   
the speaker system. My son had it when he was leader. I'm not a mechanic   
so I   
don't know how to get rid of it, so it's always been there." He said as   
he led us to   
the arena where he stopped us at one side and went to the other.   
"Okay, well come on let's fight. Squirtle! Go!" I said as I threw the   
ball.   
"Well then smart choice with a water pokemon, Thomas. I guess I'll   
have to use   
my strongest on you. Onix! Go!" Flint yelled while throwing a   
blue-and-white   
ball. Which I recongnized as a Great Ball.   
"Squirtle, get the first one in! Bubble!" I told him. He started   
blowing those very   
dangerous bubbles. Several dozen hit Onix's body, since it isn't to hard   
to miss.   
"Come on Onix, stay with it! Try tackling the squirtle, that should   
faint it," Flint   
said calmly, I never have understood how people can do that. Onix began   
rising as high as the roof would let it. Then it started coming down   
towards the   
ground.   
"Squirtle, get out of the way, Now!" I yelled like a maniac. Which it   
did   
obediently, Squirtle had barely gotten out of the way when Onix hit the   
ground.   
"Onix try binding it!" Flint yelled, Onix just kind of layed there.   
"I think the hitting the ground like that ended up fainting him," I   
said to Flint.   
"I guess your right, Onix! return!" Flint said, "Now your turn Alex.."   
Their fight ended quickly too. Geodude fainted with after a seed from   
Leech   
Seed returned, and a tackle.   
"That was a good fight you two. Here take these," Flint said while   
handing me   
and Alex the Boulder Badge, and a small computer device, like a pokedex   
design, and a piece of paper that looked like a list, "It's a TM, it   
contains Bide.   
Learn about it on this TM list."   
We took the gifts and left to go pick up our pokemon. When we got to   
the   
pokecenter it did't look like Nurse Joy was very happy   
"Which of you two owns the Weedle and Spearow?" She asked demandingly   
"I do! What's wrong?" I asked   
"You are a very irresponsible trainer! You shouldn't have battled your   
Weedle   
'til it got this bad, and you don't need to throw rocks at pokemon to   
weaken   
them either!" She yelled in an outrage at me, even though I don't know   
what   
she was talking about. So I asked, which wasn't such a great idea.   
"Playing innocent then? How do you explain this then?" She asked a   
little bit   
calmer, as she showed me a picture of a scar on top of Spearows head,   
that   
looked like he had been hit with a rock.   
"I don't know, " I said, then preceeded to tell her the story. She   
didn't believe   
that either and went into a speach about pokemon caring, battling, and   
stuff   
like that. When she had her back turned Alex grabbed our pokeballs, and   
we   
snuck out silently. We were getting hungry so we decided to go get   
lunch, and   
find a room at a hotel where away from the Pokemon Center.   
END OF CHAPTER 5   



End file.
